Department of Health and Social Care

Surgery: Coronavirus

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure elective surgery capacity and delivery is maintained through future waves of covid-19.

Edward Argar: The Department has been clear that non-COVID-19 services such as elective surgery will be maintained as far as possible. This is the approach currently being taken, whilst also managing winter demand and COVID-19 pressures. We continue to work closely with the National Health Service and partners and are carefully monitoring progress to ensure normal levels of elective treatments are restored as soon as possible The recent Spending Review provided £3 billion for 2021/22 to support the NHS in tackling the impact of COVID-19. This included £1 billion to tackle long waiting lists and address backlogs which would include elective surgery.

NHS Trusts: Standards

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress NHS Trusts made towards the target of delivering 90 per cent of their last year’s activity for (a) overnight electives and (b) outpatient procedures by October 2020; and if he will make a statement.

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department provided to NHS Trusts on delivering 90 per cent of their last year’s capacity for (a) overnight electives and (b) outpatient procedures by October 2020.

Edward Argar: On 31 July 2020, guidance was issued to local National Health Service providers and commissioners outlining the next phase of the NHS response to COVID-19 and concurrent non-COVID-19 activity. The guidance is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/07/Phase-3-letter-July-31-2020.pdfThe guidance set the ambition for recovery of elective services in October to 90% of 2019 levels for admissions, and 100% for outpatients taking into account the need to continue to operate in a COVID-19 environment, with all the necessary infection control measures to keep staff and patients safe. In October 80% of outpatient and 76% of elective activity was delivered.

Obesity

Stuart Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 15 September 2020 to Question 83952, for what reason funding is not being made available to help small businesses and voluntary groups support of the Government's obesity reduction strategy; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: Local authorities and clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning weight management services.

Dental Services: Fees and Charges

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to dental practices on the provision of band 1-3 treatments under (a) the NHS and (b) private dentists.

Jo Churchill: The Department is not responsible for issuing guidance to private dental practices.NHS England and NHS Improvement are responsible for issuing guidance to dentists holding National Health Service contracts on recovery of services following the first pandemic peak. Guidance sets out that dentists should focus on care that is urgent, care to vulnerable groups and then overdue routine appointments. Courses of treatment are banded by the level of care needed. Band 1 includes an assessment of oral health and all preventative care needed, Band 2 additionally includes any fillings required and Band 3 includes any advanced care such as dentures, crowns or bridges. Dentists deliver a particular banded course of treatment based on the level of care needed and whether it is urgent. NHS England and NHS Improvement updated their standard operating procedure aimed at NHS dental practices on 27 October, setting out how dental practices can gradually resume the provision of dental services in light of COVID-19.The guidance is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/publication/dental-standard-operating-procedure-transition-to-recovery/

Dental Services: Laboratories

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the service provided by Dental Laboratories since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental laboratories have closed in England   since March 2020.

Jo Churchill: No information is held by the Department on the adequacy of the service provided by Dental Laboratories to dentists. Dentists contract with laboratories both in the United Kingdom and overseas and this is a commercial relationship between dentist and laboratory.Demand for the appliances dental laboratories provide is likely to be reduced during the COVID-19 outbreak as the enhanced infection control required means most dentists are able to see fewer patients than prior to the outbreak.Because dental laboratories are private companies the Department holds no information on their numbers or whether any have closed in the UK or overseas.

Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Death

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate Public Health England has made of the number of deaths linked to drug and alcohol misuse since March 2020.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the number of deaths related to drug and alcohol misuse; and if he will publish the statistics that he holds on that issue.

Jo Churchill: Public Health England is monitoring information on excess mortality to help understand the impact of COVID-19 during the pandemic period, including looking at the underlying causes of death. Between 20 March and 27 November 2020, there have been an estimated 522 excess deaths attributed to cirrhosis and other liver disease. There was a total of 6,046 registered deaths from cirrhosis and other liver disease in the same period. However, not all these deaths will be linked to alcohol misuse, and there will be additional alcohol-related deaths which are not related to liver disease.  No estimate has been made of the number of deaths from causes such as drug or alcohol poisoning. This is because many of these deaths will be the subject of coroners’ inquests and not yet registered.

Protective Clothing: Contracts for Services

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will list the private companies that tendered for Government contracts relating to personal protective equipment.

Jo Churchill: The Government issued a public call to action to support the increased requirements of personal protective equipment (PPE). The aim was to reach suppliers who had experience of supplying PPE and also those who had no prior experience but who had access to sources of PPE through their business contacts. To date this has resulted in 15,000 suppliers offering their help and support. All offers were prioritised based on volume, price, clinical acceptability and lead time – this is the time from an offer being accepted by the Department to the supplier delivering those items.Contracting authorities are allowed to procure goods, services and works with extreme urgency in exceptional circumstances under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 using a direct award of a contract without a competitive tender process. The great majority of PPE contracts let by the Department were direct awards.

Dental Services: Greater London

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase local availability of NHS dental services in London.

Jo Churchill: Dental practices are particularly impacted by the risks associated with aerosol generating procedures and therefore National Health Service dental practices are required to adhere to infection prevention and control guidance published by Public Health England (PHE). This is impacting the numbers of patients NHS dental practices are able to safely see. As a result, practices have been asked to prioritise urgent care, care for vulnerable groups and delayed planned treatment.

Eating Disorders: Health Services

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government’s expansion of weight management services will include specific support for people living with binge eating disorder.

Jo Churchill: Further details about the measures on weight management announced in ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’ will be available later in the year. We will continue to consider the views of a wide range of experts as we developed our plans for implementing the obesity strategy including the expansion of weight management services and we will continue to listen going forwards.

Dental Services

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2020 to Question 107016 on Dental Services: Coronavirus, what information is collected on the size and length of the waiting lists for (a) children, and (b) adults who require dental treatment under a general anaesthetic.

Jo Churchill: Information on the size and length of the waiting lists for children and adults who require dental treatment under a general anaesthetic is not collected centrally. This information may be collected at local level as secondary data.

Blood Cancer: Coronavirus

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the increased (a) risk and (b) effect of a second wave of covid-19 on (a) people with blood cancer and (b) older people with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Jo Churchill: Blood cancer patients have a higher chance of severe disease if they contract COVID-19 compared to other cancers, which is why they were placed on the extremely clinically vulnerable list and were advised to shield. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some treatments were delayed when the risk of contracting COVID-19 was higher than the risk of delaying treatment.The newly formed Cancer Recovery Taskforce brings together experts from across the cancer community and is overseeing the development of the cancer recovery plan, including taking into account any impact of a second wave of COVID-19.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve care for people in segregation in locked mental health rehabilitation facilities.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The mental health rehabilitation workstream of the Getting It Right First Time programme has considered locked mental health rehabilitation facilities to help improve care for people in those facilities. The workstream’s report is expected to be published in early 2021.The Government is clear that restrictive interventions and restraint should only ever be used as a last resort, when all attempts to de-escalate a situation have been employed. We are working to finalise the draft statutory guidance for the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act 2018 and accompanying public consultation and will set out a timetable for publishing the guidance and commencing the Act at the earliest opportunity.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients: Location

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the number of out of area placements in locked mental health rehabilitation facilities to ensure that patients are not geographically distant from their homes and support networks.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Care Quality Commission report into the state of care in mental health services from 2014-2017 highlighted concerns about the high number of people in out of area locked rehabilitation wards. Following this, the mental health rehabilitation workstream of the Getting It Right First Time programme has considered locked mental health rehabilitation facilities alongside its consideration of out of area placements. The workstream’s report is expected to be published in early 2021.NHS England and NHS Improvement expect this report to recommend that all trusts and clinical commissioning groups should develop robust systems to bring patients treated out of area back to their local area. It also expects the report to recommend that clear monitoring arrangements are in place where out-of-area placements are considered necessary.

Coronavirus: Children

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on children’s (a) mental health and (b) emotional resilience by region.

Ms Nadine Dorries: ‘Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2020: Wave 1 follow up to the 2017 survey’ was published on 22 October 2020 by NHS Digital and is available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england/2020-wave-1-follow-upThe survey states that, in 2020, rates of probable mental disorder in children aged 5 to 16 years old ranged from 10% in London to 20.5% in the West Midlands. The increased rates of probable mental disorder in most regions between 2017 and 2020 were not found to be statistically significant.The sample size in this survey was sufficiently big to detect differences in England between 2017 and 2020 but when divided across regions, the samples sizes will be smaller at regional level, and these smaller sizes may not have been sufficient to detect a statistically significant difference.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Children and Young People

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is to access national obsessive compulsive disorder Tier 4 services for children and young people.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to improve training for health, care and education employees in locked mental health rehabilitation facilities to ensure that those employees have the necessary training and skills to work with people in those facilities with (a) learning disabilities and (b) autism who also have complex needs and challenging behaviour.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Health and social care staff working in locked mental health rehabilitation facilities must have the skills and knowledge to make a positive difference to the lives of people with learning disabilities and autistic people. This is a priority for the Government and we are developing plans to introduce the Oliver McGowan mandatory training in learning disability and autism to make sure that this happens.We are working with Health Education England and Skills for Care to develop and test a standardised training package, backed by £1.4 million investment. Work is already underway to develop the training and testing will take place in a variety of health and social care settings to help shape how it will be rolled out and delivered in future.

General Practitioners: Insurance

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of providing additional medical indemnity costs for GPs who wish to participate in the covid-19 vaccination programme and who are (a) near to or (b) have already reached the maximum limit of sessions for their medical indemnity cover.

Ms Nadine Dorries: There are comprehensive clinical negligence indemnity arrangements in place for general practitioners (GPs) participating in the Covid-19 vaccination programme in England. Since 1 April 2019, all GPs and others working in general practice are automatically covered under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice, for liabilities arising from the provision of NHS primary medical services and ancillary health services as part of the NHS in England. This includes where GPs are participating in the Covid-19 vaccination programme, which is being implemented using an Enhanced Service Specification. GPs do not pay a subscription to this scheme, the costs of which are met centrally.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many locked mental health rehabilitation facilities there are in England.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Information obtained by the Care Quality Commission from mental health inpatient providers indicates that providers who responded reported 96 locked inpatient mental health rehabilitation wards in England in 2019.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients: Discharges

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the number of people experiencing delayed discharge from locked mental health rehabilitation facilities.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The NHS Long Term Plan sets out that all health systems in England will deliver new and integrated models of primary and community mental health care for adults and older adults with severe mental illnesses backed by almost £1 billion of new investment per year by 2023/24. These new models will include transformed and improved care for people with community mental health rehabilitation needs, building services in local communities both to prevent people from going into hospital unnecessarily and to support timely discharge for those people who are in need of inpatient care. All health systems in England are expected to be delivering these new models from 2021/22. The mental health rehabilitation workstream of the Getting It Right First Time programme has considered discharge from acute mental health inpatient care. The workstream’s report is expected to be published in early 2021.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients

Jeremy Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of patients have been in their current psychiatric unit in a locked mental health rehabilitation facility in England for more than (a) one year, (b) two years, (c) three years and (d) four years.

Ms Nadine Dorries: This information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.